


Winter Flowers

by Bopdawoo



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, He's a Good Boy, I just really like plants okay, first work in the rotg fandom whats up lads, i'm finding new ways to shoehorn my passion for botany into everything else i love :), i've been hyperfixating on jack for days!!!, jack frost loose in a greenhouse what will he do, the answer may surprise you!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28586670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bopdawoo/pseuds/Bopdawoo
Summary: Jack investigates a new building in Burgess.
Relationships: Baby Tooth & Jack Frost
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Winter Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Characters: Jack Frost, Baby Tooth  
> Rating: K  
> Genre: General, a bit of adventure  
> Wordcount: ~6100

As much as he loves his hometown, there's no reason for a winter spirit like Jack Frost to remain there over the summer, not when there's no chance of snow anywhere below the Arctic Circle. So it’s no surprise that he has some catching up to do when he breezes back into town in the last days of November, bringing with him the first snowflakes of winter. Of course the first thing he does is say hi to Jamie and the other kids, and the second thing he does is explore the town and see what’s new. He knew there was  _ something _ being built on the edge of the park, they’ve been doing work there for the last few years adding pathways and trees and stuff, but the building was nothing but an empty frame when he left in the spring. Now that they’ve had months to build, though, Jack can see exactly what it is:

It’s a greenhouse, a  _ huge _ one.

Perched on the roof corner of a nearby office building, Jack lays his staff across his lap and looks the greenhouse over curiously. It’s laid out like a misshapen donut, oblong glass domes connected into a ring, the largest dome looking almost two stories tall with a modern-looking lobby area attached to it near the parking lot. All the glass is fogged up so that the inside looks like a blur of green, and no snow settles on the glass roofs; he can see it melting and dripping from here.

There’s never been a big greenhouse in Burgess before, or anywhere nearby actually. He doesn’t really understand the point of them, honestly. They’re like a big fancy fishtank but for plants. At least fish swim around and do stuff, plants just kinda sit there as far as he knows.

Maybe it’s just because he’s a winter spirit. Jack is all about snow days and ice skating and snowball fights: winter fun! Greenhouses are… they’re definitely not a winter thing. They can’t possibly be a fun thing, can they? Well, there’s kid-fun stuff and then there’s adult-fun stuff. Maybe it’s an adult-fun thing. He’d like to check it out further, but he’s got important things to be doing. Like icing over driveways so people fall on their asses trying to get their mail. Yes, very important business, simply no time to investigate the strange new building.

Jack spares one last glance at the greenhouse, before he leaps into the wind and flies off to instigate some mayhem.

… … …

Between his very important duties of making mischief and blanketing the area in snow, Jack does scope out the greenhouse a little more. His center may be having fun, but he can’t deny being curious as well; that’s half the reason he spent years trying to break into North’s workshop up at the pole. So, the longer he watches the strange new greenhouse from a distance, the more he wonders what it’s like inside those big foggy glass domes, because something occurred to him the other day.

Jack follows the winter and snow just as much as it follows him, being a spirit of his nature. The only way he’s ever really seen the world is either blanketed in snow or just about to be, and it’s not like he can just wander down to the equator for the weekend because the heat would probably kill him. But he’s heard about the different places around the world where it never gets cold enough to snow, not even once at the height of their winter: huge, strange jungles with trees that get taller than skyscrapers, and tropical islands in the middle of the ocean, and warm grasslands that stretch out for miles. A greenhouse is where people keep plants from all over where they can be warm and safe from his winter chill right outside. And he’s getting more and more curious by the week. And Baby Tooth, who flew in with North on Christmas night to say hi, is doing absolutely nothing to stop him. She’s actually more curious than him, flitting around the building and chittering happily in her little fairy language.

So Jack makes a plan: they’re gonna sneak into the greenhouse together.

They go ahead with it during a school day after the holiday break, so that only nonbelieving adults will be there; it’s a lot easier to sneak around a place when no one can see, hear, or touch you. He loves the kids but if they saw him they’d give him away. Daytime makes it easier too, since people tend to lock buildings up at night and he doesn’t like the idea of being trapped overnight in a heated building.

He’s perched on the roof of an SUV in the parking lot, Baby Tooth resting on his shoulder as they watch people come in or out of the entrance every few minutes. There’s a large sign up on the front of the building that reads  _ ‘Burgess Botanical Conservatory’ _ in bold black letters, with a stylized motif of leaves blowing on the wind underlining it. It’s mild out today, just cold enough that all the snow is still here but just warm enough that everything’s slightly drippy. Perfect weather for forming icicles all over every overhang in town, but that’s not the goal of today.

Baby Tooth peeps suddenly, fluttering and gesturing at the door, and he realizes there’s a somewhat large group starting to shuffle outside; perfect.

“You ready?” he asks the little tooth fairy, and she nods and peeps excitedly. Jack calls upon a gust of wind to take them down just as an older man holds open the door for a lady, and the freezing gust makes them both pause long enough for Jack and Baby Tooth to slip inside. He clips through both of them and it’s one of the few times he’s actually thankful that people who don’t believe in him just pass through him like he’s a ghost. It makes sneaking in a lot easier without having to worry about someone bumping into the invisible teenager.

Baby Tooth beeps happily at their success, and he holds up his hand so she can tap his finger with her tiny hand- their version of a high-five, before they take a look around. They find themselves in a warm lobby area, and Jack immediately feels out of place. He feels out of place in most indoor spaces, he’s too used to wide open skies and flying over buildings rather than walking through them like a normal person. The lobby has a little reception desk and a gift shop off to the side, where he can see plenty of plant-themed stuff for sale. Baby Tooth flits over to some windchimes, while Jack wanders towards some small tanks near the reception desk. Paddling around inside are a few baby turtles barely bigger than quarters. And nearby is another shallower tank, this time with the smallest baby chicks he’s ever seen. A woman near him asks about them and the lady behind the reception desk says something about how they’re babies from the animals inside the greenhouses, and then she points out a mesh bug catcher with a few weird little cocoons inside, and says that once they’re butterflies they’ll be set free into the greenhouse.

Jack has never seen a butterfly before, there’s no butterflies flying around in his winter winds.

He gazes over to the foggy glass doors leading into the greenhouse and wanders closer. Are there butterflies in there right now? There’s a sign up on the double doors, asking guests to walk carefully and mind the free-roaming animals including turtles, ducks, quails, and butterflies. A man brushes past him, oblivious, and as he opens the door warm air spills out and he flinches back a little.

It’s  _ very _ warm in there. Warm and humid in a way he’s not used to. It’s… it feels really weird.

Jack backs off with a sigh. Bunny’s Warren was similar but not nearly intense, he didn’t have any problems there. Maybe because it’s a place of magic. This isn’t, it’s just a regular human building.

Baby Tooth flutters up and peeps at him, concern in her mismatched eyes.

Jack smiles and holds out a hand for her to perch on. “I’m fine,” he says. “Just not used to it.”

She chitters and it sounds like a reassurance.

“Yeah, I just need a minute.” He wanders over to a corkboard pinned up on one side of the lobby, covered in written messages. It’s a Q+A board, he realizes: visitors leave questions for the staff to answer. He skims many of them without even reading, gravitating towards the ones with messy children’s handwriting. They mostly ask things like  _ “how do fruits grow?” _ and  _ “are mushrooms plants?” _ and  _ “what is a butterfly’s favorite flower?” _ . They make him smile.

And then one question, written in dark blue colored pencil, catches his eye. It’s signed from Jamie Bennett, and it asks,  _ “Is winter important for plants?” _

That one gets to him. It’s been a few years since Jamie became his first believer after centuries of isolation, of not being able to be seen or heard or touched by anyone. The kid holds a special place in his heart and he’s always the first person in Burgess to track down Jack once he returns, if Jack hasn’t already covered his bedroom window in frost feathers overnight. It’s nice, having friends, not being alone anymore.

His eyes flick down to the answer on Jamie’s paper, and the first word written in neat pen is a  _ “Yes!” _

Jack’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Winter is… important to plants? Doesn’t winter just stop everything from growing?

Baby Tooth beeps and flutters by Jamie’s question, and makes a little shrug with her arms.

“You can’t read?” he asks, and Baby Tooth shakes her head. So he reads Jamie’s question, and the answer given.

_ “Winter helps plants keep track of what time of year it is, so that they all go dormant at the same time in the fall, and flower at the same time in the spring. Some plants even  _ _ need _ _ the winter cold to complete important parts of their life cycles, like germination and flowering. The long cold winter hours trigger seeds buried under the snow and buds that will become flowers to be ready to grow once it warms up. There are some plants that even flower in the middle of winter, such as winter aconite, winter honeysuckle, snowdrops, and catkins. Take a look at our outdoor winter garden to see these unique plants in bloom!” _

Jack gapes, reading it over again in disbelief as Baby Tooth peeps excitedly. Winter really is important to plants? There’s plants that flower  _ in the middle of winter?? _ Is this what getting your mind blown feels like? This whole time, he thought the winter chill was just a nuisance to plants. But the cold actually  _ helps _ them do stuff, who knew?

Well. Gardeners knew, apparently.

“I guess we  _ gotta _ explore this place now, huh Baby Tooth?”

The tooth fairy nods and chitters eagerly, and flits over to the greenhouse doors. He follows right behind, and the next time someone swings open the door Jack darts right inside.

The warm, humid air hits him like a wall and Jack staggers a little, having never felt this sort of warmth before. It’s not like a campfire’s warmth, dry and with the chill of the rest of the world still creeping in. This is an all-over  _ everywhere _ warm, and it’s  _ humid! _ Jack has never felt warm-humid before, just cold-humid on those foggy mornings on the edges of winter when any snow he tries to flurry up ends up as a miserable drizzle.

But Jack regains his footing quickly and looks around for the first time, and he can’t tear his eyes away from the  _ green. _

The plants surrounding him are like nothing he’s ever seen, strange leaves growing in on him from all sides. He feels like an explorer stepping foot into an unexplored jungle, or an alien planet, and he grins as the wonder of it all takes hold. There’s  _ palm trees _ in here! Real, actual palm trees! They’re  _ huge! _ They tower proudly above everyone’s heads like they’re trying to reach all the way to the ceiling with their leaves that are literally bigger than his  _ entire self. _ Jack doesn’t think he’s ever seen a lead bigger than his  _ hand. _

That’s  _ absurd. _ But it’s true! A tree with leaves bigger than him, right here in Burgess! And then he takes a closer look and realizes that the leaves look very different, because there’s actually three  _ completely different  _ palm trees in here. Jack comes to the astonishing realization that there are, in fact, multiple different kinds of palm tree apparently, and  _ many  _ plants with unbelievably huge leaves. They’re not as tall as the palm trees but they still grow tall above his head and send up these massive leaves shaped like fans and  _ what is that- _

This flicker of vibrant blue crosses his vision, not Baby Tooth, it’s… that’s a  _ butterfly. _ That’s a  _ real  _ butterfly.

Jack’s mouth has fallen open as he watches it, fluttering and floating around like it weighs nothing, wings glittering like fairy feathers. He laughs breathlessly, grinning wider.

“Baby Tooth!” he shouts. “Baby Tooth, look! It’s a butterfly!”

The tooth fairy flits down from somewhere up high, chittering happily with a smile, and she leads his gaze over to… to a whole  _ group _ of butterflies. They’re all fluttering around a bowl hung from a tree branch, filled with slices of fruit. Baby Tooth peeps proudly as Jack walks over, transfixed by their bright colors. There’s so many! They’re all in different colors and patterns and sizes, and they look so,  _ so _ delicate. No wonder they only show up in the summer: the icy winds he loves so much would batter the poor things and tear those beautiful wings to shreds.

“Wow,” he breathes, and then Baby Tooth swoops in and steals a grape right off the plate, sending them all into a startled flurry. Jack laughs at her antics, and she just grins smugly before tucking into her prize. Jack watches the butterflies settle back down, still amazed by their rainbow of wings, before letting his gaze wander around the greenhouse again. He still can’t believe there are places out in the world that are just like this all year, not even seeing snow once. Well, the Arctic is snowy all year round, so he guesses it makes sense for there to be places that go without snow all year long.

Jack spots something moving by his feet, and looks down to see a round little bird, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. This must be one of the quails the sign mentioned, and he crouches down as it investigates the tip of his staff. It looks more like a walking puffball of feathers than a real bird, but he won’t deny that it’s very cute. It bobs its head and pecks at the wood of his staff once, and then a man walks past and it scurries into the low foliage.

Looking at where it hid itself, Jack finds himself looking at a single leaf with  _ four different colors _ on it. And it’s just one leaf in a  _ sea _ of leaves with all the colors of the rainbow on them. Greens are there, but so are purples and reds and yellows and  _ hot pinks! _ These leaves are hot pink! What kind of plant even is this to have rainbow leaves?

Baby Tooth peeps, and flutters to a sign staked into the dirt nearby; it’s information on the plants here.

“They’re called ‘ _ coleus varieties’ _ ,” Jack reads aloud. “They’re found in tropical and subtropical regions, and they’re prized for their colorful leaves.” The spirit comments, “Well, I can see why. They practically look like Bunny decided to paint them instead of his Easter eggs.”

Baby Tooth beeps in agreement. They spend a while longer admiring the colorful leaves, and end up picking favorites. Baby Tooth finds one with long, wavy leaves with bright pink centers that fan out in splotches over a white and green backdrop; Jack’s favorite ends up being the one with teardrop-shaped leaves of yellow-green, with dark purple delicately lacing through them like patterns of frost.

A tiny butterfly with milky white wings floats past and ends up leading Jack to the next plant of interest. It looks vaguely like a vine the way it creeps up the trunk of a tree, if vines had leaves that were two feet long and full of holes. It looks almost like someone cut them up with scissors, but there’s a little sign hanging off one branch that says-

“ _ ‘Monstera deliciosa’ _ , also known as the ‘Swiss Cheese Plant’,” he laughs, and looks back at the leaves full of holes. Apparently they’re supposed to be like that. The holes in the leaves are just big enough that Baby Tooth can dart through them like a little obstacle course, and Jack crouches down to stick his head under one of the drooping leaves and peek out through the holes like a spyglass. It’s crouched under the leaf that Jack looks off to where the stone pathway leads, and he realizes it curves into another room, another dome. Are those cacti in there?

“Whoa. Baby Tooth, c’mere! I think this is a desert room!” Jack leaps up and is about to race off but the little fairy suddenly flutters into his face, buzzing her wings and looking concerned. “What’s up?”

Baby Tooth gestures to him, then the room of cacti up ahead, and then mimes panting and fanning herself. It takes him a moment to piece together the meaning.

“You’re worried I’m gonna overheat?”

She nods worriedly and peeps at him.

Jack opens his mouth to reassure her that he’ll be fine, he can last a little longer in this heat, and then stops himself. Because he feels fine. A little warm, but otherwise absolutely entirely fine. Which is not normal. Normally, he finds even ‘room temperature’ to be a little uncomfortable for him and this place is definitely at least room temperature if not a little higher. He quickly checks his staff, and it’s still coated in ice as usual. With some hesitation, he pokes a small wet patch on the stones with his toe and it freezes over.

“I… I feel fine,” he admits, at a loss. That’s so weird; what’s different about this place? “Why do I feel fine?”

Baby Tooth thinks for a moment, and then her feathers puff up as he practically sees the little lightbulb go on over her head. She flits over to the glass wall of the greenhouse, gesturing to the snow and cold just outside. She does have a point, when he thinks about it: usually buildings have a lot more insulation between him and the outside, rather than this thin bubble of glass.

“You might be right,” he nods to himself as she flutters back and rests on his shoulder. “I really do feel fine, but we’ll get out of here if I can’t keep my cool.” He snickers and she pecks him lightly for the bad pun, and they continue into the next room. It’s dry in here, and the path is lined with basins of sand and gravel filled with alien plants covered in spines. Jack spots several tortoises wandering around the path and one of the basins appears to be ‘theirs’ because it has suitably-sized ramp to get in, and food and water dishes scattered around for them as well as a heat lamp. Jack wanders slowly, watching his steps for the roaming tortoises and curiously gazing at all the strange plants. What is it with cacti and spines? Everything in this room is so unfriendly-looking.

… Kinda like Pitch, honestly. Pitch would get along swell with a spiny cactus.

Baby Tooth chitters, and flutters away to perch on a sign, and Jack reads it for her. “The plants in this room come from harsh, dry conditions around the world, like the Sorona Desert in America and the Sahara Desert in Africa. Their strange looks are adaptations to help them survive in their environments, by conserving water or making them hard for animals to eat.” Jack glances over at a particularly spiny cactus, and his mouth hurts just  _ thinking  _ about something trying to eat it.

They continue their amble through the room, checking out strange thorn-covered bushes, plants labeled as  _ ‘aloe’ _ or  _ ‘agave’ _ with these long tapering leaves all coming from one point, and little plants with bright round leaves that he mistakes for flowers at first. And of course, cacti of all shapes and sizes. There’s one even covered with long white fuzz, labeled an  _ ‘old man cactus’ _ .

“Fancy seeing you here, North,” he chuckles, and a flash of color catches his eye.

It’s not Baby Tooth, it’s not a butterfly. It’s a flower, growing out of the crown of a tall round cactus.

It never occurred to him that a cactus could make flowers. The petals are thin and pointed, a creamy color towards the middle that fades outward to a pink so bright it’s no wonder it caught his eye. In the very center is a ring of tiny yellow fluff-tipped stalks. Pollen? When he looks over the cactus itself he can see the teardrop-shaped buds of more flowers-to-be, wreathed in protective spines. Even something as harsh-looking as a cactus could make a flower; who knew? Baby Tooth definitely enjoys it; the moment she spots it she zips over, chittering excitedly.

It’s the only flower in the room, which ends up not mattering because the next room is devoted entirely to flowers. They’re not cut flowers, like he sees in bouquets, but whole flowering plants. The path forward is lined with bushes and small trees, and tables crowded with potted plants, and even the ceiling is hung with trailing vines and all proudly show off flowers in shapes and colors he never imagined flowers being able to take. There are butterflies here too, and this smell in the air that sort of reminds him of Bunny’s Warren or Tooth’s Palace, and as he inhales deeply he realizes it’s  _ flower _ smell.

Jack hasn’t smelled many flowers in his time; he’s long gone to the Arctic Circle by the time most flowers bloom in the springtime.

Baby Tooth has already taken off in a blur of excitement and feathers. Jack smiles and shakes his head and takes his time wandering forward, admiring the flowers with his eyes  _ and _ his nose. So many new scents he’s never been able to experience, all drifting around between  _ ‘sweet’ _ and  _ ‘mayne fruity’ _ and very much  _ ‘this is what soaps try to smell like, but WAY better’ _ . So many new colors and shapes, too! Smooth pointy petals and whorling round petals and weird petals that curl and twist like feathers of frost; delicate blues and fiery reds and cheerful yellows, but he thinks he likes the snow-white ones the most. There’s flowers that only have four petals and there’s flowers with so many that he can’t count.

Kids draw flowers  _ way _ different than what they actually look like, he realizes. Jack quickly decides that he likes both kinds. There’s definitely gonna be a few from this room that stick out in his mind for a long time, like the one he walked smack into.

Jack reels back a little from the powdery yellow  _ thing _ that just poked him in the cheek, and finds himself staring at a single flower that is literally as big as his entire face. He blinks, and can’t believe it, and even when he holds up his hand and spreads out all his fingers the flower is  _ still bigger. _ It has five wavy petals with sunny-yellow edges, that fade to orangey-pink and then into deep magenta at the very center. Sprouting from the middle is a thin stalk tipped with powdery pollen, and he realizes he must have some smeared on his cheek where he bumped into it. As he wipes it away he looks for a nametag to tell him what the flower is, and finds it to be a  _ ‘Hibiscus’ _ . Jack considers calling Baby Tooth over to see, but she seems to be investigating the flowers at her own pace. If she hasn’t already seen this one she’ll see it soon; it’s very hard to miss.

The next flowers Jack finds on the path are called orchids. According to the sign by their display table, they’re known for unusual shapes, colors, and smells; just looking at their strange trailing and curling petals and smelling the change in the air, he can tell why. Most of the orchids are absurdly fragrant, like perfume or  _ ‘flower multiplied by ten’ _ but there’s one that actually got him to stop in hsi tracks.

“No way,” the spirit mumbles, but he sniffs the air and he  _ knows _ that smell. He follows his nose, smile of disbelief growing until he pinpoints the orchid responsible, a strange flower with wavy maroon and white petal, and he takes one deep whiff and practically jumps in joy.

“Chocolate!” he cries, grinning wide. ”You smell just like chocolate! How do you- Baby Tooth! Baby Tooth, get over here! This flower smells like chocolate!” he smells it again and laughs out loud. North would  _ love _ this one, he knows it for sure. The man loves his sweets and the novelty of a chocolate-scented flower would have him even more excited than Jack.

Baby Tooth suddenly reappears, peeping and dusted with pollen. Jack snorts a laugh.

“Having fun?”

She nods fervently. Well, he has a good feeling about which room would be Tooth’s favorite, then. Jack points out the chocolate-scented orchid and Baby Tooth is just as excited about it as he is.

The next orchid they find smells like vanilla and looks ten times stranger, and Jack practically cheers. Sneaking in here was the best idea he’s had all month.

Entering the next room is like walking into a curtain of humidity; Jack can already hear another water feature flowing nearby, and the stone path under his feet turns to wood: a bridge. The path in this room looks to be one big bridge over an indoor pond that takes up almost the entire room; trees caked with moss and ferns thick with leaves droop overhead, and strange wispy plants hang low in sheets that he has to duck under. There’s a tall waterfall carved in fake stone over on one end and colorful little fish swimming all around, and there’s turtles and ducks too! Clusters of lily pads send up these big, beautiful flowers out of the water, with thick pointed petals of purple and pink and white. Clusters of rocks and little fake islands lined with grasses and flowers poke up above the water, and ducks and turtles gather around them. Jack crouches, smiling at the collection of animals chilling out around the room.

“You guys have it  _ made _ here, huh?” he says to them. They don’t have to worry about migrating or predators or anything. He even spots a heat lamp and some scattered bowls of fresh food for them, tucked away under a drooping bush. Baby Tooth takes off and flutters just over the water’s surface, watching the fish curiously, and one of the ducks paddles towards him. It looks at him almost hopefully, like he might give it food. Jack laughs, “Sorry buddy. No food here. You guys are spoiled, aren’t you?” It quacks at him and paddles under the bridge, heading to the waterfall. Some colorful fish swim past and Jack watches their delicate fins ripple the water’s surface.

It’s nice, being in this room, and he lingers. Watching the fish and turtles and ducks, and listening to the water splash and bubble, both make him want to kick back and relax for a while. This room would definitely be Sandy’s favorite, he could probably nod off in here for hours. Jack and Baby Tooth stay for a little while longer, enjoying the peace, before moving on once more.

The pond room has one last surprise for them, right before the door. There’s a table covered with strange plants, and a sign above it that reads,  _ ‘Carnivorous Plants’ _ .

Jack’s eyebrows shoot up and he reads the sign again. Carnivorous means it eats meat. There are plants that eat  _ meat? _

He unsubtly herds Baby Tooth to the safety of his shoulder and reads the sign.

_ ‘Carnivorous plants are the results of unique solutions to areas poor in nutrients such as nitrogen. These plants have evolved the ability to catch and digest prey such as insects and even small animals to get the nutrients they need to survive. The plants on display here include venus flytraps, pitcher plants, and sundews. Each of these plants requires special care to replicate their native environments and help them thrive.’ _

Jack surveys the collection of meat-eating plants with morbid curiosity, and very pointedly does not let Baby Tooth off his shoulder until they leave.

The path leading out of the pond room loops right back into the big palm tree room, and the sight of the towering exotic trees makes him grin again. It’s still so cool that people figured out how to get palm trees all the way up here in snowy Burgess and have them survive. They didn’t even need any magic! Good old human ingenuity is amazing.

As Jack gazes around the sea of green leaves, and feels the artificial warmth on his skin, he feels his smile fade.

The plants in here are all wonderful, but he could kill them all in an instant. One cold breeze could freeze everything in here to death, probably. A plant from somewhere so warm and far away can’t even exist outside here, it has to be tucked away somewhere special, like here, so that he can’t freeze them. Even the plants around here can’t stand the winter, everything dies back in winter.

Jack is a winter spirit. 300 years and he knows all about the wonders of the winter season, all its beauties and its dangers and every way to have fun in the snow and cold. But now that he’s gotten a taste of the other side, of what he  _ can’t _ experience, he can’t help feeling a little down.

That’s just how it works, he supposes. Summer spirits can’t enjoy sledding and snowball fights, so winter spirits can’t enjoy pool parties and tropical gardens.

Baby Tooth buzzes in his face and he reels, but he’s not quick enough to dodge the older man walking by, and he passes through Jack like a ghost.

No matter how many times he experiences it he always hates it. It’s not exactly pain, it’s not exactly discomfort. But it feels  _ bad _ .

“Thanks for trying, Baby Tooth,” he sighs, and flashes the fairy a little smile.

She beeps urgently, tugging on his hoodie strings.

“What is it?”

The fairy points outside, and mimes shivering.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cold out there compared to here. Still fine, by the way.”

She tugs his hoodie strings again before flitting to the greenhouse doors, leading back into that lobby. Jack takes one last look around the greenery before he followers her, wondering what she could be up to. She leads him back into the lobby and buzzes over to a map; it shows the building and the surrounding park space, and as he approaches he realizes what she’s trying to tell him.

“The winter garden,” he realizes, and she smiles and pats the map where the path around the park breaks off to an area laid out like a snowflake. “Good call, Baby Tooth!”

Reinvigorated, Jack makes a dash for the doors with Baby Tooth close behind, and he only stops so she can get a grip on his shoulder before he races outside. He summons the wind to take them up, and he leaves the ground with a wild whoop of excitement. It feels great to be back outside! Sure, the greenhouses were cool and all, but nothing beats the chill of winter.

From up in the air Jack can see all the paths around the main building, twisting around bushes and trees of all kinds, all of them leafless and all covered in snow. The winter garden is easy to spot. Aside from an area nearby seemingly dedicated to pine trees, it’s the only other place with any sort of green visible under the snow. That’s all the encouragement he needs to fly right on over, landing right in the center of the snowflake path. And Jack knew there would be flowers here; the answer to Jamie’s question on the board specifically mentioned flowers. Even so, Jack half expected the winter garden to be a couple fancy pine trees or holly bushes or whatever, so when he took that first look around he’s not sure how he was still so shocked.

There are flowers here.  _ Everywhere. _

They’re on the trees, the bushes, popping right out of the snow on the ground! Whites, yellows, reds, purples, all happy and growing even with the snow. The air carries that fresh pine scent, mixed up with sweet fragrant  _ flowery  _ smells. Jack doesn’t even care that he’s grinning like a total loon.

“There’s flowers out here!” he cheers, and Baby Tooth twitters in excitement. “Winter flowers!”

This is _ fantastic! _ Flowers growing in the middle of winter!  _ His _ winter! There’s snowflakes in the air and a chilly wind that rustles the branches, and still there are green growing leaves and flowers that won’t die just because they got a little chilly. These are plants that actually like his snow, just as much as him.

Jack drops into a crouch to investigate some of the smallest. They’re growing right up from the frozen ground, carpeting it just as well as the snow that clumps on their leaves and petals. A sign lists their names which Jack commits to memory: winter-flowering violas and pansies, winter aconites, cyclamens and glory-of-the-snow flowers. They’re a riot of color, everything from blue to yellow to pink to purple. It’s like an artist spilled their paint all through the snow. But it’s not paint, it’s  _ flowers _ , and they don’t mind the snow. He even holds them, cups their bright petals in his freezing fingers and they don’t droop and die. They’re completely fine.

Jack can’t help it; he laughs out loud, and springs up with a spin of his staff and sends a chilly breeze through the branches overhead, and no flowers fall and die. They’re all completely fine, fiery bursts of crimson and yellow and white peeking out from their new dusting of snow. Jack has never heard of winter jasmine or quince before, nor winter honeysuckle. The honeysuckle might just be his new favorite: delicate wavy petals as white as fresh snow, filling the air around them with a scent that reminds him of citrus. Even Baby Tooth seems to love them, flitting around the branches and peeping happily despite the cold.

How has he never heard of any of these plants before? Has he just… overlooked them? He never expected to see flowers growing in the snow, why would he have been looking before now? He didn’t even know these plants existed.

Did other people not know they existed either? Is that why he’s only finding out about these snow-loving plants at a place of plant experts?

Well.

Jack is more than happy about this new building being here, and all of its plants too. But he’s  _ especially _ happy for these ones. Jack really, truly loves his newfound flowers, out here in the snowflake-shaped garden that seems specially built for him. Flowers that love the snow as much as him.

“I should get some of these for my lake,” he states more or less the moment it pops into his head.

Baby Tooth peeps.

“You like that idea?”

The little fairy nods with a smile.

“Alright then,” he chuckles, “I guess we’re gonna bother Bunny for gardening lessons later.”

But that can come later. For now, Jack summons up a little snowbank for himself in the very center of the garden, and as Baby Tooth flits around above him and explores the flowers, the winter spirit lays back in the snow and enjoys his garden.


End file.
